Well it comes down to predator control my breed has had tails cropped and docked like this for 4,000 years long before Westminster was created.
When a wolf pack attacks one wolf grabs the ear and pulls the opposite way which allows the throat of the dog to be exposed thus the other wolf rips the dogs throat out.
My breed comes from a part of the world where the nearest Vet is thousands of miles away. When they fight bear , tiger , Hyena etc if they survive.
Their is no antibotics ,the deserts of the Karakum are deadly more with bugs and heat than the predators...
Workings can mean herding, protection work, draft etc.
Livestock dogs even the ones we know of like ASD Kangal Akbash CO CAS Tatra all were either cropped or docked in native lands at one time or another.
One of the reason was for the tail to tell the dogs from the wolves they were bred to hunt back 100 years ago. So the hunter does not shoot the dog instead of the wolf during nite raids.
This crop is done at 3 days so we dont know which pups is going for work vs pet until temp and structure start to show themselves at a later date too late to do this on wholes litters.
Some lines of this breed have NATURAL docked tails thus it tends us to believe years of cropping and docking had its reasons.
IN my pack of 10 if they had ears I would be at the Vet Daily..
Tails few times of year when they would be broken in accidents.
Again not for all working breeds.........